Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cybersecurity
    • Cybersecurity

    Okta Advances Business Application Authentication With New Services

    By
    Sean Michael Kerner
    -
    May 24, 2018
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin
      Okta ThreatInsight

      Enterprise identity management vendor Okta announced a series of new products and updates on May 23 that aim to advance the state of access security.

      Among the new and updated products announced is Sign In with Okta, a secure authentication system for app providers. Okta is also updating its Adaptive Single Sign-On (SSO) and Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) offerings with new device context capabilities. Going a step further, Okta’s platform now provides the capability for secure, password-less authentication as well.

      “The ability to go password-less is based on contextual access management signals including device context, location context, network context and now also ThreatInsight to responsibly allow organizations to eliminate the password for their users,” Joe Diamond, Okta’s director of security product marketing management, told eWEEK.

      ThreatInsight is a new Okta feature that is available in the company’s SSO and enhanced MFA products. With ThreatInsight, Okta is bringing enhanced contextual awareness to its platform to enable more secure authentication approaches.

      “ThreatInsight powers the access management policies that an admin can create across SSO and MFA products,” Diamond said. “It is not a threat feed into the console, but rather an additional security check for suspicious authentication attempts.”

      ThreatInsight data can also be consumed in third-party tools such as Splunk, according to Diamond. Okta uses a variety of analytics techniques to power ThreatInsight, he noted.

      “To derive signal from the noise of all authentications across the Okta Integration Network, we apply heuristics that are optimized over time and result in a signal of risk associated with that authentication event,” Diamond said.

      While Okta is trying to help enable a password-less model for authentication, it’s introducing new technology to help further improve password-based security as well. The new PassProtect tool from Okta is a JavaScript-based tool that websites can use to help users check see whether their passwords have been compromised.

      “PassProtect will check the user’s email / password against the fabulous Have I Been Pwned? API service to see whether or not the user’s email or password has been breached in the past,” the PassProtect GitHub project page states.

      PassProtect is open source and completely free, Diamond said.

      Standards

      Multiple standards efforts are underway to help improve authentication. Among them is the W3C WebAuthn effort for strong authentication that was announced in April. With WebAuthn, the FIDO (Fast Identity Online) Alliance strong authentication specifications are being standardized.

      “We’re excited for the adoption of the WebAuthn protocol to enable password-less experiences,” Diamond said. “Okta currently supports these experiences in a few ways already, including our new password-less experience enabled by ThreatInsight, as well as our integration into Windows Hello.”

      Diamond added that Okta is committed to supporting open standards for authentication, and as the W3C finalizes the WebAuthn spec, Okta will incorporate the full WebAuthn implementation into its service. 

      “This will allow customers to use WebAuthn-compliant platforms and authenticators for performing step-up and password-less authentication into the Okta service,” he said.

      Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at eWEEK and InternetNews.com. Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist.

      Sean Michael Kerner
      Sean Michael Kerner is an Internet consultant, strategist, and contributor to several leading IT business web sites.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Careers

      SThree’s Sunny Ackerman on Tech Hiring Trends

      James Maguire - June 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Sunny Ackerman, President/Americas for tech recruiter SThree, about the tight labor market in the tech sector, and much needed efforts to...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×